


in the city where we stray

by matchamida



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cats, F/M, Gen, I SIMP FOR KUROO..., Tags will be added, believe me im writing this almost blind as yall reading it, but yeah i've actually had these ideas for a while lol but lets see how far it takes me, once again i am asking for brain power, reader has a fixed appearance/last name btw it's for reasons, yo i honestly do not know if this is a romance but i do know this is my overdue love letter to kuroo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27602930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matchamida/pseuds/matchamida
Summary: Cats, catfish, fish. Knocked over plants. The pleasure of being free and fast and flexible. The cold feeling of being soaked to the bone. You, your older sister, and your cat were just trying to live normal lives in the city of Tokyo without your parents, but sometimes there's the occasional little slip-up that could have been prevented. But it totally wasn't your fault. (spoiler alert: it kinda was.)
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Reader, Kuroo Tetsurou/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	in the city where we stray

Kuroo Tetsurou and Kozume Kenma weren’t sure what to make of you when they found you talking to a cat.

After the setting sun signaled the end of volleyball practice, the pair had split off from their other teammates and were taking the usual route to the train station when Kuroo recognized your figure in the distance. 

“Oh,” he said offhandedly, “it’s Namazu. She’s in my class.”

You were standing alone, facing a large tree with a seemingly peeved aura. At least, he thought you were peeved. The swaying tree branches were blocking your expression for the most part, but with the way your foot tapped heavily on the concrete and how your visible fist was clenched? It was a likely sign.

At Kuroo’s comment, Kenma glanced up from his phone to see who he was talking about, before immediately losing interest and resuming his gacha game.

In a normal situation, that would be the end of it. In a normal situation, the pair would pass by you like anyone else going home, with Kuroo momentarily wondering what pissed in your cereal this morning and Kenma switching to a different game with the subtle rage of not getting the five-star character he was aiming for. In a normal situation, they would arrive at the train station with about half an hour left to spare, and back home where their schedules would then rinse and repeat.

Today, however, was a little different. 

As they approached you with the intent of minding their own business, something reached Kuroo’s ears.

A squeak?

His eyes briefly flickered in your direction. 

At first, he thought it to be some rustling leaves that just so happened to be squeaky today (because surely leaves can somehow squeak?) and left it at that. But when they were mere feet away from you, the same sound had Kuroo halting, Kenma following suit.

“Maowww.”

A cat.

“Listen to me, ya bastard.”

And you were talking to it.

“You won’t be knocking over my plants tonight,” you were hissing to the black cat that lazed about on a low branch. “I’ve taped them down! Even I can’t knock them over! Now get in my bag.”

“Aowww,” yawned the cat casually, before it was quickly snatched by the scruff of its neck and engulfed by the darkness called your bag. You zipped it half-way and turned around, allowing Kuroo and Kenma to see your annoyed face.

A messy fringe of dark hair partially covered your right eye, but Kuroo knew that was how you always wore it. Your visible one darted from Kuroo to Kenma with attentive curiosity before it relaxed.

“Sup.” You offered them a lazy smile, as if you didn’t stuff a cat into your bag. “See ya.”

The witnessing pair could only stand there and watch you walk ahead of them, dumbfounded.

Kuroo suddenly snapped his fingers. “Catnapped!” he exclaimed, like it was necessary to say.

Kenma shook out of his stupor, rolling his eyes at both his childhood friend and the newly summoned three-star character.

* * *

It turned out that it was not the last they saw of you, because when they sat down in the crowded bullet train, Kuroo noticed you sitting at his right.

Huh. So you had the same train schedule as them. Or maybe it was your catnapping that held you back long enough for your schedule to collide with theirs.

Speaking of cats.

He tried not to look at the wiggling school bag on your lap, where a pair of black ears poked out and twitched at every passing voice.

“Hey, why did you catnap that cat earlier?”

The question was out of his mouth before he could stop it, and Kuroo could feel Kenma’s judgemental side gaze for having the audacity to say that again.

At his voice, you turned to give him a wooden stare, where your eye glinted with… he didn’t know what. The hair on his arm prickled weirdly. He suddenly felt an inkling of regret because maybe he was toeing the line of dangerous and personal affairs. What if you were involved with something shady? Like, you worked in a black market and your job was to catnap cats from the streets and sell them for who-knows-what?

(He’s tired from practice, okay?)

You said, “this is my cat. Sometimes, he likes to wander out to see me after school.”

“Oh,” Kuroo said. So you weren’t that kind of cat dealer.

Wait.

“If you go to Nekoma by train,” he said in disbelief, “then you’re saying your cat travels this far from your house to see you?”

“Ya,” you chirped. You roughly poked at the space between your cat’s ears, where an indignant _aoow!_ squeezed out of the bag. “Cats are super weird. They have their ways of doing anything, even the things you think they’re not even capable of doing.” You paused, turning around to squint through the window. “Geh, it’s gonna rain. I didn’t bring an umbrella.”

Kuroo was also prompted to look outside. You were right; dark clouds were slowly crawling overhead the city like a thick blanket. It seemed like it was going to rain some time soon after his and Kenma’s stop. He turned back around, noting your disappointed frown with mild interest. 

“Don’t like the rain?”

“I do,” you replied nonchalantly, before adding, “when I’m inside. Getting wet’s not so fun. It’ll probably start raining during my walk home, so I’ll just use my bag as a make-shift cover.”

Kuroo stared pointedly at your bag, where he swore your cat’s ears flattened in horror. “But your cat’s in there,” he said dumbly.

“Yeah,” you said.

Kenma paused his game.

“...But your cat’s in there,” Kuroo repeated, half-hoping you heard him wrong.

“Yeah,” you said again.

Kenma glanced at your bag with something akin to pity.

* * *

Your stop was one stop before theirs.

“See ya tomorrow, Kuroo,” you said as you stood up. You looked down at your bag and nudged it. “Oi, you say bye too.”

“Wahhhh,” wailed your bag.

“He’s asking why didn’t you pet him,” you jokingly translated, a grin curling at the end of your lips. Turning to Kenma, you addressed him for the first time. “What’s your name?”

“...Kozume Kenma,” the second-year replied quietly, not meeting your eye.

You nodded, not at all put off by his aloof demeanor. “Bye, Kozume.” 

“Wahhh,” your cat wailed again.

“He said he likes your hair,” you supplied, grinning wider. You promptly waved and weaved through the shifting crowd. Kuroo watched you until the doors slid shut behind your back, before addressing Kenma with a sigh.

“You should at least look people in the eye sometimes,” Kuroo quipped without bite.

Kenma fiddled with his phone, discomfort subtle on his face as he chose his next words carefully. “...I felt like she was watching me.”

At that, Kuroo raised a brow. “Watching you?”

“Even though she was talking to you this whole time,” Kenma continued slowly, “it was like... How do I explain it? She was telling me that she’s aware I’m here.”

Kuroo made a face. Sure, you were a bit... unpredictable—and he meant that in the nicest way possible—but you were amicable enough. Though, now that Kenma mentioned you ‘watching him’, Kuroo understood what he was getting at. He had a feeling that if you really wanted to, you could intimidate someone on the spot with one eye.

He shrugged. “Maybe you’re just overthinking it. We thought she was a catnapper, but—“

Kenma didn’t have the energy to roll his eyes again.

“—she seems pretty cool.”

“She’s going to use her cat as a rain cover. A _rain cover_.”

Kuroo didn’t have anything to say to that.

* * *

“Maowww.”

With careful aim, you flicked your cat on the ear as the clouds above darkened. “Oi, Kinako, shut up. It ain't cute anymore. Don't think I forgot about the plants. Just because you don't have opposable thumbs doesn't mean you can't help me clean up the soil."

Kinako poked his head out, his heterochromatic eyes of yellow and blue gazing into your own. 

"Says the hypocrite," he countered snidely. "I saw your eyes this morning. You're no better than me."

"At least _I_ can hold back sometimes," you muttered. The banter was put to a stop when a single drop of rain plopped onto your nose. Kinako must have felt it too, because he looked up and yowled in displeasure.

"It's raining," he whined in worry as he sunk beneath the flap. "We should hurry home."

"I don't need to rush," you said, and swung your bag over your head to use it as a cover.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my overdue love letter to kuroo. will change tags later to more appropriate tagging when i am more awake.


End file.
